Visitors, Newcomers Learn About Hampton By The Touch Of A Button

HAMPTON — Let's say a woman in Auckland, New Zealand, wants to move to Hampton.

To find out information about the city and its neighborhoods, our New Zealander simply has to log onto the Internet at www.gis.hampton.va.us

Once there, she can search property records by the owner's name, property's street address, tax number or parcel number.

That's because the city of Hampton has posted its property assessment information on the city's Web site.

Maybe our curious New Zealander knows someone in Hampton. Or what if she knows generally where she'd like to move but doesn't know the street name? No problem.

A map of Hampton on the Web site can be used to zero in on a specific piece of property.

Or, she can type in a street, and all the properties on that street will pop up.

Our prospective Hampton resident can also find information about a property's surroundings, such as how it's zoned, if it's in a flood plain and what voter precinct it's in. Not only does the site say what school boundary a property is in, but it also provides a link to that school's Web site.

Having the data online is handy for people who have Internet access but who don't want to make a trip to City Hall to look up the information, said Mark McKercher, with the city's Public Works Depart-ment. The database is also a good economic development tool, he said. People who are thinking about moving to Hampton or opening a business can research the area first.

The data has more than numbers on a page. It has pictures. Big color photographs taken by the city assessor's office employees. The database has 6,000 full-color pictures of properties in Hampton, and more are coming, McKercher said.

McKercher said that "not a soul" has complained about having property information on the Internet. "No one has voiced any concern about it."

All of the information on the Web site is public information that anyone could get by going from office to office at City Hall, McKercher said.

The parcel information has been on the city's Web site since mid-January, McKercher said, and it's getting more hits as word about it grows. About 1,000 people are logging on every 24 hours, he said.

Hampton was the first city in the area to put its assessment records on the Internet, but it soon will be joined by James City and York counties, McKercher said. The idea is to create a regional database, where folks can navigate back and forth between the different communities.

"What we're trying to do is make this a regional effort," said Richard Sebastian, director of real estate assessments for James City County. "We're trying to make it as seamless as possible."

If the weather remains clear as predicted, Hampton will be collect more information this weekend.

Helicopters carrying cameras are scheduled to fly over Hampton and Poquoson to collect data on property lines, buildings, bridges, road edges, forests and shorelines. That way, those Web surfers in Auckland will have a better idea of what Hampton looks like.

- Laurie Koch Thrower can be reached at 247-7894 or by e-mail at lthrower@dailypress.com